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Daily Archives: November 3, 2015

Here at MVS Algeria, we often select classic mid century furniture for our clients. With those with larger budgets, we tend to buy authentics from Knoll and Herman Miller. When shopping for those with tighter budgets, we’ll look at reproductions and replicas. Buying repros for the past few years has given us some insight into the market. Here’s what we found.

Even after many years, Eames furniture is still able to hold its own in the current market and for a premium price for that matter. It is an iconic piece of furniture that everyone would love to have. But, unless you are lucky enough to find the vintage lying somewhere in a garage sale, you might have to settle for the reproduction which is equally savvy and just as elegant with plenty of comfort. However, the buying process especially when it happens to be online is not typical. You have to be extra careful and have sufficient information to make the right choice.

Read the description properly.

It would be sad to get your Eames lounge chair just to notice it is not what you expected because you did not read the description properly. It is easy to get caught up in the excitement and overlook some of the details but for such an iconic piece, this would be detrimental. You have to make sure that the description indicates that the chair is made from 100% leather. Not leatherette or faux leather unless of course you want to settle for these two. For the best quality, you might also want to ensure that the leather is specified as Italian leather.

If you want something less costly, of course you should make sure that the description matches your budget but for top dollar, Italian leather is a must.

The base.

Most reproductions of the Eames lounge chairs will have alloy metal bases with plastic connections. It is acceptable if that is the amount of money you are looking to pay. However, a high end replica of the Eames Lounge Chair will usually come with a die-cast aluminum base that is hard to miss. The latter ensures that the chair is able to last for a long time and fully accomplish its functions. As you would expect, the former will ideally have a significantly shorter lifespan and requires to be handled with more care.

The veneer.

The next aspect that you need to look out for to make sure you have the real deal is the veneer. Originally, the Eames lounge chair was finished with between five to seven layers of ply. The cheaper reproductions will usually use laminate but higher copies will use real wood grain veneer for the finishing. This will definitely spike the price but the sight is utterly heavenly and worth the cost.

The Ottoman question.

It is possible to buy an Eames lounge chair without the Ottoman but it would be much cheaper to buy them together. Most dealers will usually separate the two to make the price more attractive but buying the pieces separately will ideally be more costly.

Other factors to consider.

While these are the primary factors that you ought to consider, the chair should not have other things like visible screws and bolts which can be a real turnoff.

Not only does this impact the aesthetic appeal of the chair, but is also a quick giveaway that your chair is a knockoff.

Additionally, the shock mount at the bottom should be rubber and not metal or plastic. It is one of the things that you should not compromise on regardless of how much you are willing to spend.

It is worth mentioning that a genuine Eames lounge chair is not only hard to come buy but can also be quite expensive. To enjoy the same comfort and elegance, a top notch reproduction by this company would be a great option that is easy on your pocket and provides the same level of quality. I’ve bought mid century chairs for my clients from them in the past so I may be biased but here at MVS Algeria, we like to give credit where credit is due.